Iodine deficiency: an important and severe public health problem in Kayseri, Central Anatolia

Iodine deficiency (ID) remains a significant global public health problem. The iodine status of rural areas of Kayseri Province, Central Anatolia was previously evaluated but a screening survey covering both rural and urban populations had not been conducted. The aims of this study were: a) to determine the nutritional iodine status by calculating urinary iodine excretion (UIE) of the school-children living in the districts, city centre and villages of Kayseri Province; b) to implement preventive measures. The study group was made up of 1,784 school-children (920, 51.6% females; 864, 48.4% males), aged between 7 and 12 yr. Height and weight of children were measured and urine samples were collected. The median UIE of all school-children was 25.5+/-17.2 microg/l. Iodine status of the population was gauged based on median urinary iodine values categorised as normal (> or =100 microg/l), mild (50- 99 microg/l), moderate (20-49 microg/l) and severe ( or =100 microg/l), 747 of school-children (41.9%) had UIE 0.05), in overweight and obese male children UIE was significantly higher than in normal or underweight children (p